Flash freeze warning in effect for Toronto

Bone-chilling winds will be the script for the next three days in the GTA.

While the areas surrounding Toronto seem to get hit by blizzard after blizzard, the city got another rainy day better suited to umbrellas and boots.

By:Hayley KelmanStaff Reporter, Published on Sun Dec 12 2010

Commuters are being warned that falling overnight temperatures may create hazardous driving conditions on Monday morning.

Environment Canada issued a flash freeze warning on Sunday night, saying hours of rainfall could turn to ice overnight as the temperature dropped from 2C to -6C.

The city is expected to see 2 to 4 cm of snow fall early Monday morning.

“At first we thought Sunday was just going to be a rainy day,” said Geoff Coulson, climatologist with Environment Canada, “but there’s been a huge storm system on the move. Toronto will be more fortunate than other parts of the province, where they’re dealing with poor visibility and blowing snow.”

According to Environment Canada places further north, like Collingwood and Barrie could get up to 30 cm of snow.

Toronto will experience colder than normal temperatures throughout the week, with the low expected to remain around -6C. Normally for this time of year the temperature hovers just above the freezing mark.

“Commuters will need to give themselves extra time to get to work. People should be driving with extreme caution — there’s going to be a fair amount of ice on the roads.” Coulson continued.

“What will really make things bad is that folks won’t realize there’s ice under the little layer of snow.”

As the storm began to build on Sunday, York Regional Police said that more than two dozen accidents had been reported. Blowing winds and slippery conditions were believed to be a contributing factor.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.